Alois Kracher

Alois Kracher Jr. (23 February 1959 – 5 December 2007, Illmitz) was one of the most successful winemakers of Austria, and was known under the nickname "Luis". The wines from his vineyard Weinlaubenhof Kracher reached a world reputation and high acclaim from international wine critics such as Robert M. Parker, Jr., who awarded 98 points or higher on his famous 100-point scale to several of Kracher's wine. His fame was mainly built on his sweet wines, so called Trockenbeerenauslesen (TBA) of high sweetness and enormous concentration that results from the development of noble rot on the grapes. Local conditions on the shallow Lake Neusiedl, where the Kracher vineyards are situated, are conducive to the development of Botrytis cinerea (the fungus responsible for noble rot).

Biography

Kracher first studied chemistry and worked as a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry. From 1981 he started working part-time with winemaking in the winery of his father Alois Kracher Senior (born 1929), and from 1986 this became a full-time activity for Alois, with focus on sweet wines. This brought the business to fame with his new style of sweet TBAs. Alois Senior continued to work in the vineyards while Alois Junior were in charge of winemaking and overall management. This first vintage to receive broad acclaim was 1991.